Scientists build a silicon chip that writes DNA with electricity, paving the way for cleaner gene synthesis and DNA-based data storage

Silicon chips have long been the backbone of computing, but a Harvard-led research team has given them an entirely different job: writing DNA. As reported by Science Daily, a study published in Nature Electronics, Harvard researchers have unveiled a silicon chip DNA writer capable of synthesising DNA using electricity and water-based enzymes. The innovation marks a major departure from traditional phosphoramidite chemistry, which relies on hazardous organic solvents. The chip can simultaneously produce 64 different DNA sequences, each up to 39 nucleotides long, offering a cleaner and more scalable approach to DNA manufacturing.